Go On
by RowenaR
Summary: You know you can't stay at Archie's. Pre-series, written for my Holiday Fic Request Meme on LiveJournal.


**Author:** RowenaR

**Rating:** K+

**Category:** gen

**Disclaimer:** Leverage... belongs to people who are not me (because, trust me, if I owned it, you't know it) but I'd still like to play around with the characters. Especially Eliot. In _writing_, people. Sheesh, get your mind out of the gutter.

**Summary: **You know you can't stay at Archie's. Pre-series.**  
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**A/N: **So. Holiday Fic Request, here we go. First piece was requested by **abvj **and she threw me a real tough cookie with her prompt (Leverage, Parker, _like a blister in the sun_). I actually agonized a while over this because, you know, it's the first one and I'd wanted to have at least this one finished to post it on schedule (so far, I have 11 finished and am trying hard to finish a twelvth. I'm still determined to finish them all on time but I'm making no promises. Deal?). This fic only came to you because **mac **pushed me in the right direction. Just saying.

Anyway, as always: Not a native speaker, so please excuse any weird grammatical constructions, run-ons and typos. Feedback will earn you a cookie, flames will roast my marshmellows.

* * *

><p><strong>Go On<strong>

"_Let me go on, like a blister in the sun  
>Let me go on, big hands I know you're the one."<em>

_Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun"_

You always knew the day would come. The day Archie took you in after years in the system, you knew the day would come you'd leave again. It's always been the way of things for you, and you never even got it in your head to question it. You're not questioning it now.

You felt it, two weeks ago. You felt that it was time to leave again, just like you did all those times before. Sometimes you knew it was something you did or said, sometimes you didn't know what it was and sometimes you wanted to leave so badly, you didn't care what you had to do to get away the soonest you could. You ran away a couple of times, only for the system to catch you again. Those were the worst times.

You're grateful to Archie. He was the one who taught you not to get caught, ever again. He gave you your freedom, in a way. When he took you in, you were old enough to know that he was using you, grooming you, because he knew he couldn't always con people and steal things. Because he had a family he didn't want to get involved with what he did for a living. You never resented him for it. After all, you were a willing participant. You were a prodigy.

You still are, and as Archie starts to turn away from crime, you start to feel an odd sense of… belonging. As if all the weird things you did in the other houses were just ramps to what you like to call the highway of your life. You know it probably won't be a very long one but you sure as hell know it'll be a _fast_ one. You really like fast.

You're almost on your way now. You take a last look around the first room you ever had to yourself. It's almost bare; a bed, a desk, a chair, a wardrobe. You never needed more than that and you didn't take long to return it to the state you were given it in. No decorations to take down, just equipment to collect. You don't get attached to things or places.

You don't get attached to people, either. Archie was different, somehow. His wife and his children weren't. They never really warmed up to you but you never let them get to know you. You felt right from the beginning that it was probably for the best.

You once had Archie tell you that you and he were "kindred spirits". It took you a while to understand what a pickpocket and the greatest thief of all times had in common but you learned it, eventually. It's one of the reasons why you decided to leave. It's not good to have two of you in the same place for too long, not with normal people around.

You don't sigh and you don't regret, you just turn your back and walk out in the soft, catlike step Archie taught you. It's dark outside and Archie and his family are sleeping. You consider leaving a note but for the life of you, you can't come up with anything to put in it. Archie will know, and Archie's family won't mind you leaving. It's just the way of things.

You're almost out the door when you notice a little slip of paper stuck between the door and the door handle. You almost leave without even touching it but something makes you reach out for it. Carefully, you unfold it. It's Archie's grown-up, sophisticated scrawl that stares at you. _Never jump without knowing who's going to catch you._ It makes you smile. He just knows you too well. Your smile vanishes.

You open the door and slip out, never looking back. You consider stealing the beautiful Porsche the family three houses down from Archie's family owns but you don't want to leave angry neighbors as a parting gift for Archie. You don't want to leave any parting gifts at all. So you walk away, the first time knowing no one will catch you and put you in the system again. It has nothing to do with being too old for the system and everything with having learned never to let anyone pushing you around again. You're grateful beyond measure for that.

You consider turning around again once, at the end of the road when a fork leaves you to decide between left and right but you don't. Somehow you know you won't like what you're going to see. Whatever it is, it'll make you consider going back and you can't do that. Archie has a family and you don't belong to it.

You don't know if you'll ever going to have your own family, if you'll ever _want_ to have your own family but you know one thing for sure. You won't find it out if you stay with Archie.

So you need to be on your own again and that's why you left. Without hesitation, you take the right turn and you're free. It's the most wonderful feeling in the world.


End file.
